Dana White: “I don’t want to smash this commission here but…”

Despite the last second loss of headliner Alexander Gustafsson due to a cut the light heavyweight contender suffered leading up to the card, UFC on Fuel 9 turned out to be a tremendously entertaining event featuring competitive clashes and a handful of memorable finishes. However, though Ilir Latifi did a solid job as a replacement for Gustafsson against Gegard Mousasi, UFC President Dana White still wasn’t 100% happy with the way things unfolded in Stockholm over the weekend.

White spoke to Fuel TV shortly after the show had wrapped, crediting the fighters for their excellent efforts while taking the Swedish athletic commission to task for taking Gustafsson out of the main event. Though Gustafsson’s cut was serious, it had also started healing and was certainly no worse than some of the other afflictions affecting the men who were ultimately cleared by the regulatory board.

“The commission did a horrible job with this fight,” said White. “Gegard Mousasi, his knee was injured coming into this fight. He checked with his own personal doctor and his doctor said, ‘You can make it through this fight but you’re going to need surgery after this fight.” Thank god he didn’t see the doctors here, you know what I mean?”

“He fought with a knee that kept popping out because he wanted that shot at Gustafsson – he wanted the #3 ranked guy in the world,” he continued, praising Mousasi for his gutsy showing. “He still takes the fight, goes out, performs, and wins. That’s what it’s all about at the end of the day.”

Before going overboard with his criticism, White reeled his emotion in and pointed to how green the involved officials are as making the matter a bit more understandable. And, despite the controversy, White still hopes to bring the UFC back to Sweden next year to give them another shot.

“I don’t want to smash this commission here but the reality is they’re very inexperienced. Not only are they inexperienced, the doctor is inexperienced in fights. This isn’t Las Vegas or New Jersey or California where tons of fights happen all the time,” White explained. “They did a great job the first time we came in here, so hopefully they’ll get back on the wagon.”